Cushion heel



June l ,"1926. n J. B.-HADAWAY c usHIoN HEEL Filed Dec. 11, 1922/NVENTUR -iatented `lune l, 1926. Y,

OFFICE:

`JoHN E. HADAWAmoE swnmrscofrn JIAssAcHcsEr'rs, AssIGNon ro UNITEDsHoE-gi MACHINERY CORPORATION,y or rA'rEnsoN, NEW JERSEHQA coRronA'rIoN0E NEW JERSEY. y j

' cUsHIoN HEEL.

Applicatie); med Decemperii, i922. seiiarivtfeeies.

This invention"relates"v cushion heels and has forits objectthennprovement of suchmheelsin respect -to economy and kfa-V cility' ofmanufacturev and easej of attachment. n f Inas-much ascushion jAheelsrare usually madehofl rubber or some materialor composition havingsimilar characteristics,. the

termrubber,heel'wi1l-for convenience, be

used herein to. refer tosuch heels; but ity should"be` understood that,.wherever this expression is jused `in the following vspeci-Vlicationfand appended claims, it is to/be construed to cover a VcushionYh'eejl Vmadeof zov " area including a vplurality of thefnailingLlocations V:is vulcanized into ia rubber heel.. Such Va plate, mustbeg-rovidedwith holesl any suitablejresilient' material having thegeneral characteristlcs of rubber or rubber compositions Certaindifficulties arise, bothinthemanu- `facture of thefheel andin itsattachment to a-pshoe,\when a stiffening ojrfsupporting member or''plate extending throughout Ian for the passage ofthe.-eel-'.attachingnails, and the first diiiicultyarises in locating theplate upon thev supporting pinsinthe vulcanzing mold in which the heelis made.` .Under ordinary manufacturing conditions these moldsaresubjected to more' or f less rough treatment 'and they pins oftenbecome.V somewhat 4bentf-'with,theresult that a ,plate Y havingrholesVof approximately the ysize of the pins and fixed asv'to spacingcannotbe heel mold is not thesame kas that ofthe holes ink the nailing Vdieofthe heel attaching machine because,in the construction ofy such molds,the pins arespacedY to allow for shrinkage vof the heel .inthecuring-process. It, iS, therefore, easily understood .that a spacingand'l arrangement of holes in a stiffeningplate which willt l'they pinsink Y the heel mold will not v-tithe `patternof the; nailingproducedbythe heel attaching machineV If it be attemptA toy overcomethese difficulties by -making lthe .,-holes the stifa suflcientamount`to infener oversize b Y Y insure fthef possi iility 'of i their beingk:placed upon the y1 pimV inflate; ,heelmold and Permitthe apertures inthe stifle-ning ting-.fthe heel attaching nails to bedriven throughthem, failure vwill 'result because the holes will be so large that theheadssof the,y

asf

attaching nails wilhpassthrough them, and' i the nails Will havefnosubstantial holdingm rrpowerV 1n therubber.;l e Y y e,

By the present invention a stiffening 'vor supporting member,` element,or plate is prof vided by which the r,above-mentioned dif- 7 ficultiesare overcome Without sacrificing the .necessary anchorage for the headsof the attaching nails 'In the illustrated embodi! mentV oftheinvention, wherein three of vthe attaching nails pass through thestiening7 element, elongated .openings of a width just* `suficient forthe easy ypassage ofthe shank V.portionsL ofthe'v nails are provided.These Vopenings'may conveniently be inthe formof .slots through whichtheheads kkof thev nails cannot pass. By Varranging-two ofthe slotsapproximately in alinement andathird slot atja right angle to theiirsttwo themaximum of efficiencyn is secured; The virtue of this novelconstruction and arrangement re-l sides in the fact that the stifeningelement I maybeplaced easily upon the corresponding. pins inthevulcanlzingmold, regardless of variations in their spacing and lwillnever-v y theless be definitely located in' the mold and held positlvelyagainst horizontal movement in any direction ;.L and furthermore thatthe v attaching nails; whosel spacing is determined bythe spacing ofythe holes in the nailing die of .the heeling machine,will`easily iinpasslthrough them lwith certainty,

The ends of the stfening memberfmay adyantageously projectr forwardlyand lie quite close tothe side edges ofy the heel at its breast'corners,thus overcoming a difficulty met when trimmingbases to ywhich the rubberheels at present in use are attached.

memberand l i 90 This difficulty arises from the-fact that, whentheshoeis presented kto the heel trimming machine to trim the base tothejcontour of therubber section, the comparativethe top lift guard kofthe-trimming cutter liciently to permitthe cutter to cut too ydeeplyinto the heel base, with the result,v that an producey a smooth,continuoussurface around the edge of .the heel, and theY intendedshapefrequently yields at the breastecorners suf-, `r

10e e `ly soft rubber'whic'h serves asa guide for of the heel is more orless departed from, usually to the detriment of its appearance. Thistrouble is eliminated by the heel herein disclosed, which cannot yieldinwardly at the sides of the breast corners to any material extent,because the rubber is amply supported atthese important places by thestiltening member. J

While the embodiment of the invention herein illustrated and describedin detail comprises a heel provided with a stiiening element located inand extending across the breastportion o'l the heel, and including thethree breast nails, the invention is capable of many variations and maybe embodied in heels having inserted elements of various other speciicforms and in other possible locations.

The invention and its advantages will be more fully understood andappreciated by reading the following detailed description of onepractical form thereof in connection with the accompanying drawings, inwhich Fig. 1 is a plan view of the tread face of a rubber heel embodyingthe invention, with a portion broken away to reveal the internalconstruction Fig. 2- is a cross sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig.1;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view on the same line as Fig. 2, showing theheel attached tc a slice; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the stiftening element cr insert.

Referring now to the drawings, 10 indi cates a cushion heel which may beci any desired or suitable thickness and mayy be a whole heel or a halfheel. `1n the illustrated heel locations are provided for six attachingnails but it. will be understood that the number of such nailinglocations may be varied as desired. As shown, the nailing lo cationsarerdesignated in the usual manner by the provision of cavities orindent-ations 12, at the centers ci' which the nails are to be driven.Ink register with certa-in of the cavities 12 are nail engaging washersla ot the usual form.

In the breast portion of the heel is a supporting and stiiening element16, herein shown in the form of a relatively long and narrow metallicplate extending from one side to the other of the heel close tc the heelbreast and having pointed projections 18 extending laterally of theplate and reaching into the breast corners of the heel. The dimensionsand contour of the element 16 are.

such that the iiexibility of the heel apart from the breast portionthereof is unimpaired, and the ends of said element preferably lie quiteclose to the side edges of the heel at the breast corners.

f 20, 22 and 24C indicate the holes left in the heel by the pins in therubber heel vulcanizing mold upon which the washers are usuallysupported in the process of molding the heel. The plate 16 has threeslots 26, 28 and 30 which are so arranged as to permit the plate to beplaced upon and supported by the three mold pins last-men tioned. lThewidth of these slots is the same as the diameter of the holes in thewashers 111 and is sutlicient to permit the passage ci' the sha-nk of arubber heel attaching nail, but not the head. 9

An important 'feature consists in arranging the central slot 28 at rightangles to the slots 26 and 30, as shown. rfhis makes it possible tcplace the plate 16 easily upon the three mold pins regardless ct' anyinaccuracy in their spacing or any bending ot the pins which may haveoccurred although aft-er the plate is once located upon the pins theplate is securely held against horizontal movement in any direction. Theplate and the washers 14C having been placed upon the pinsin the heelmold the plastic material oli' which the heel is tc be made is placed inthe mold and the heel is then formed and vulcanized in the usual manner.

`When the heel is attached to a shoe the three breast nails are driventhrough the slots 26, 28 and 30 respectively, the peculiar dispositionand arrangement of the slots making it possible to easily aline asuiiicient portion oit each slot with the corresponding hole in thenailing die of the standard cominercial heeling machine to permit thenails tc be driven through the slots with certainty, even though thespacing between the holes in the nailing die is not identical with thatoi the pins in the heel mold. The attaching nails, which are shown at 32in Fig. 3, are driven and clinched in the usual manner. These nailsplace the plate 16 in a state of tension and, when the heel is normallyccncavo-conveX in cross section, as illustrated, the plate will besomewhat deformed by the torce exerted upon it by the attaching nails asthey draw the rubber heel down iat against the heel base, which isindicated at Sat in Fig. 3. A comparison of Figs. 2 and 3 will showclearly hcw the plate 16 is sprung or bent when the nails are driven.then the plate 16 is thus placed in a state of tension the vprojectingcorners 18 draw the heel, particularly at its breast corners, down verytightly against the base. The plate 16 is preferably of spring steel inorder that it may, when under tension, continue permanently to press thecushion heel tight- 1y into engagement with the base to which it isattached. Experience has demonstrated that the attachment of this heelis so tight and secure that there is nc necessity for the use of cement,and, consequently, a very ma terial saving in the cost of the heelattaching operation is realized.

Apertures, such as slots v36, may be formed in the plate 16, permittingthe rubber on opposite sides oi.' the plate to meet and vulcanizetogeth'erto afford Va secure anchorage for the plate in the heel. Theseapertures ,are preferably llocated betweenthe nailingv slots, asshown,for the purpose' of'making the part ofthe lplate between ktheslots 26,

V more flexible than the projectingl end por-l tions of the plate, whichare solid. The

resultof this is that the solid, relatively stiff, end portions of theplate' act, in a measure, as fulcra when the breast corners of the heelare pressed down tightly upon the heel base and the force exerted by thetwo nails driven through the vslots 26, 30 hasl a tendency to bend themiddle of the plate toward the heel base, producing a tight `jointacross the breast even though, as is sometimes the case, v the shankYstii'ener of the shoe Vprojects rearf Wardly under the heel so farthatit would interfere with the lcenterV breast nail and the latter isconsequently omitted. Y

The ends of the'plate v16 are so closeto theside edges of therheel atits breast corners that the rubber cannot yieldy inwardly to anymaterial, extent' when the heel is pressed against the top lift guard ofthe heel trimming machine, `and the undercutting of the base, Which isthe cause of great annoyance inthe trimming of bases to Which the rubberheels now in use have been at-V tached, is'prevented at and .ne'arthe.breast corners, Vwhich is the only place VWhere the troubleY isserious. f

A cushion heel khavingvon treaddface designated nailing locations, 'atcertain kof Which are provided nail head engaging Washers and at anotherof which 1s provided claimed in my co-pendingapplication, Serial No.607,077, filed December 15, 1922.

Having described the invention What. is

claimed as new and Letters Patentjis: v l

l. A rubber heel supporting or stiffening desired to be secured by tothe two `first mentioned. n 2. A rubber heel normally of curved cross,astiffening' member of larger area than vone of the Washers is not'claimed herein but 1s 1,

section having therein a resilient, normally flat, stilening` elementextendingfrom side to sidekof the breast portiononly of the heel andextending into. the breast corners thereof, said heel being deformableto ilatness, whereby the stiening element is placed -in a state oftension and the'breast corners of the heel are pressed tightly againstya shoe when the heel is attached to the shoe.

3. A rubber heel having'Y therein an elongated, resilient, sti'feningelement ext-ending z from-side to side yofthe breast portion only oftheV heel, said stiilening element kbeing moreexible at its center thanat its ends.v In; testimonywhereo-f I have name to this specification.

vJOHN B. HADAWAY.

signed Ymy f

